Degradation of the SOFC anode by contaminants in biogenic gaseous fuels

Abstract:

Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have one of the highest efficiencies when converting fuelgas
to electricity. Combining this property with the use of biomass enables a reliable and
non-fluctuation form to use renewable energy efficiently even in small operating units. The
simplest form of such an integrated system could consist in a gasifier for converting solid
biomass to useable fuel-gas, a separation unit for removing particles and the SOFC which
uses the fuel gas in an electrochemical reaction to generate electric power. This
configuration implies that the SOFC must be resistant to the contaminants (tars, sulphur-,
chloride- and alkaline-species) that are leaving the gasifier. Otherwise, the gas must be
purified which increases the complexity and therefore the costs of the system. In the
current research project, the tolerance of SOFCs regarding contamination in the producer
gas of a biomass-gasification is examined. For the experiments, a Fuelcon Evaluator
C1000-HT test station together with a mixing station for tars and gaseous contaminants is
used. The analyzed anode-supported cells are manufactured by Forschungszentrum
Jülich and consist of a NiO/8YSZ anode and an LSFC cathode. First, the degradation
when operating the cell with pure syngas is studied, measuring the cell-voltage and the
temperature profile along the anode. Subsequently analogous tests with different
contaminants will be done.
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Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFCs) have one of the highest efficiencies when converting fuelgas
to electricity. Combining this property with the use of biomass enables a reliable and
non-fluctuation form to use renewable energy efficiently even in small operating units. The
simplest form of such an integrated system could consist in a gasifier for converting solid
biomass to useable fuel-gas, a separation unit for removing particles and the SOFC which
uses the fuel gas in an electrochemica... »